In the early days of sand blasting, various things were used to create something that would protect the glass from the sand. Almost immediately, inventive processes were dreamt up by tradesmen to save time on duplicate designs. India rubber, and thick parchment stock soaked in varnish were just a fe...

I have the answers for you on these signs. I replaced the same type of back lit glass signs to replace the broken ones in The Union Station in Los Angeles, California. I did them when I was in my previous shop back in 1993. They were for the Western Union booth areas. Your panels in your photos are ...

Here is a good thing to try. Sand blast some glass, and experiment with depositing measured thicknesses of wet glue. See how thin you can get it, and still have it chip the glass. You will find that the dried glue layer can be so thin that you can see the sand blasted glass finish actually appear in...

When chipping fine/small areas, it is best to put the glue down thinly, otherwise it is too thick to fracture into nice segments. Instead the glue layer has too much strength due to its excess thickness and will pop off like a larger unitized "potato chip" of glue. In fine areas you want t...

Also, this is a nice lathe, but it is mostly for doing light weight engraving work on glass art and glassware. It is not intended to turn the larger stone wheels used for Brilliant Cutting as that seen done on large glass panels by DAVE SMITH in Torquey UK. But it can still do some nice cutting on a...

Hi,
Use a "non detergent oil" in your Spatzier. According to Jim Riser, detergent oils allow debris and dirt to be suspended in the oil, while non detergent oils allow dirts to sink. This is probably why you discovered so much sediment and sludge in the bottom of the bearing cups.

Also, I noticed that there is still a lot of remaining sand blast in your designs that did not chip. The glue lost it's grip on that glass because it was not fully dry. Sometimes this is caused by force drying the glue too rapidly which dries the top of the glue before the bottom fully dries to the ...

Good to see the progressive steps in your learning process. I think the 180 grit abrasive is a bit too fine for glue chipping. It does not fracture the surface of the glass as well as 100 or 120 grit will. They also give a rougher surface for the glue to bond to. The courser the grit that you sand b...

Nice find. There are a few people on Facebook that really know a lot about these engraving lathes. You should search for "Jim Riser" on Facebook. He lives in Arizona and is a talented glass engraver and machinist. He is very knowledgeable and he has followers who are also finding these lat...

If you can break the surface of the Sherwin Williams with lightly rubbing it with some #000 steel wool pad that should keep the size from rolling back to itself. I have to think that if the SW paint repels the size when it's wet, that the final dry adhesion is also jeopardized. Are you certain that ...

WOW! Great photos and memories spent with Rick, Lola, and everybody. Looking at the photos my brain filled in all the different odors that accompanied those areas of Rick's shop, along with his voice that could be heard coming from the next room. All good memories to cherish.

WOW! Great photos and memories spent with Rick, Lola, and everybody. Looking at the photos my brain filled in all the different odors that accompanied those areas of Rick's shop, along with his voice that could be heard coming from the next room. All good memories to cherish.

I am actually also interested in applying this nickel to metals as well as glass. A thin deposit of nickel onto the metal, and then an automotive clear coat for protection. I have an idea for use in lighting fixtures, as nickel metal color compliments etched glass very well.

Ismael, I am interested in knowing more about your nickel process. I imagine the nickel deposition is about the same thickness as when silver is deposited on glass. Can this nickel solution be sprayed with a silvering gun? my email is; decoglasspro@earthlink.net

Wheww, glad to hear that was the thickness after jelling and not dried. I envisioned glass curling up like taco shells! lol Sounds like you are in a ballpark with laying down the glue. Now just don't rush the drying procedure, we have determined that is the greatest thing that has an affect on the c...

A 1/16" dry layer of glue is pretty thick. And 1/8" is stupid thick. You will get nicer brighter tighter chips if you scale back on your thickness. At 1/8" thick, the glue can actually break your glass by curling it up. Do yourself a favor and experiment with as little glue as necessa...

You are depositing too much dried glue by volume on your glass. You might want to add just a bit more water to thin the mixture down a bit. When your glue curls off in a single long piece as seen in the photos it is a sign that you are applying the glue too thick. As you can see, there is a consiste...

I think that old timer info on turning over can was good info back when paint WAS paint. But now doing that will form skins in the top and bottom of your can, and if those skins don't have enough settle time to become hardened skins, the result is broken bits of thin skins breaking off into your pai...

Dan,thanks for the tip on Clear Shield. I called the company and was able to ask a battery of questions about their product. And it sounds like something I would try. Basically it is a waterborne resin that adheres in the sand blasted areas of the glass. The man said that any of the product that dri...

cleaning depends on what the nature of the contaminates are. Is the glass in an office, or a diner, is it within reach of the public? It can also be affected by any attempts by the customer trying to clean it with (God only knows what) soaps and solvents before they gave up and decided to call you (...

I don't even wipe my frosted glass as even that can leave marks. I lightly squeegee off the just cleaned and rinsed panel, and finish it off from top to the bottom with an electric leaf blower. I even supply clean cotton gloves to the customers installers when they come to load it on their truck. Th...

Thank you for the follow up on how you intend to solve this. I was going to suggest that the only real way to make it perfect again was to relay all the letter masking down a re-blast the entire panel evenly. But I did not think most people would opt to do that, even though it is the only way(unless...

I just saw this post. I noticed the thinness and length of those lines. And that since the panel is so long that it was affixed to the truck in the horizontal position against the horizontal ribbed rubber strips on the glass frame. Also that the lines are fairly close to each other which suggests th...

Hi Terry, James' wheel leading info there, mostly shows the leading on tapered pointed threads. They are tapered because a tapered thread will take up the wear of the soft lead as the wheel is mounted and dismounted from the point over time/years of use. But straight machine threads are also used, a...

Hi Terry,
It is weird that the link I posted will not bring up James' pdf on leading wheels.
So if you Google "James Riser leading wheels" the pdf should come up like it did when I just tested it.

Hi Terry, Glad to see you are interested in wheel cutting. I became interested back in 1980 and started building a set up in my single car garage beneath my apartment. Bit by bit some people are drawn to the craft. There is a man in Arizona who is very talented in many things including various types...

Welcome aboard!!

A friend of mine puts art and letters on his T shirts by applying computer cut or hand cut stencils(for that freehand look) onto the shirt, and then lightly spraying them in multiple stages with spray can paints. They are very crisp and the spray paint stays solid after many washes. Great for small ...

One easy solution is to spray the paint on with an automotive style spray gun. That will eliminate the brush strokes, and if you backlight the panel while spraying, you can control the evenness.

Hi Ismael, I viewed your video and I have a question. Why do you spray this copper solution and such high pressure and volume of solution? It seems to me that a lot of solution is spent in over spray, never contacting the little face mask. It almost appears that the high spray strength is washing aw...